Veteran councillor opts to run again

A longtime Brandon city councillor said he is going to run for his fifth term this October.

Shawn Berry (Ward 7) said he was originally planning to leave the position at the end of this current term, but “numerous” residents told him to reconsider.

“I feel I still have a little bit of something to give and I mean, I’ve got 16 years in, I’ve certainly got the experience of being around the council table, I’m not afraid to speak my mind,” Berry, 63, said.

“I still have something to offer, not only to my ward, but also to the citizens of Brandon as a whole,” he said.

Berry joins Mayor Jeff Fawcett, and councillors Heather Karrouze (Ward 1), Shaun Cameron (Ward 4), Jason Splett (Ward 8) and Tyson Tame (Ward 10) as council members seeking re-election.

Councillors Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2), Barry Cullen (Ward 3) and Glen Parker (Ward 9) announced they will not run again at the end of their terms. Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5) has not said what his intentions are, and Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) said he will run for either mayor or councillor.

Former city councillor and Brandon East Progressive Conservative MLA Len Isleifson has also joined the mayoral race.

Berry said the loss of the three outgoing councillors, who will have served a combined 34 years on council by the end of their terms, will hurt, especially as their positions would be filled by candidates with far less experience.

He said the three councillors have done “an excellent job” during their respective terms, and that institutional knowledge is “very important” for councillors to have in order to understand the reasoning behind past decisions. Having that history on council is another reason Berry said he’s wanting to return.

“I bring with me that 16 years of institutional knowledge from being there and around those decisions,” he said.

Berry said he had been thinking really hard for the last three months about whether he should run again, and that changing his mind after initially planning to leave was a difficult decision.

Berry was first elected in 2010 in a four-person contest in what was then called the Linden Lanes ward. He was subsequently acclaimed in 2014, 2018 and 2022.

He said he won’t make campaign promises as he knows they can go south on candidates quickly.

Berry said he’s proud of the work the city has done on the new Canada Packers Sports Complex and that he’s looking forward to a new outdoor pool.

In the last year, the city has worked to get a new pool built by 2028 to replace the aging Kinsmen Centennial Pool. The Kinsmen pool opened more than a month late last year because of needed repairs, though it opened on time this season.

The election for council and the school board is on Oct. 28.

Nominations for the mayor position have already opened, while nominations for councillors open on June 30.

» alambert@brandonsun.com